Heroes of British Black History – Mavis Best

Mavis Best worked with a group of Black women from Lewisham (SE London) to do away with the infamous ‘Sus law’: powers granted to the police under the 1824 Vagrancy Act to stop and search “suspected persons” that was being manipulated by police officers to stop, search, arrest, detain and assault young Black people. Before Best and her campaign group’s Scrap Sus campaign secured a complete repeal of the unfair law, Best worked with other Black women to rescue children from police stations by demanding their release.